Potty Training

Potty Training stage is NOT my favorite. I have been avoiding it and will to put if off for another year. (I figure as long as she is potty trained before kindergarten we are all good!). But she is starting to show signs and I suppose I can't deny her to right to pee in the potty. She all the sudden doesn't want to wear diapers, so I told her she had to wear Judson's underwear and try to pee in the potty. She actually sat on the toilet and tried... huge for her since she used to be terrified of it. Here is a cute picture of her sitting on the potty... there are also SEVERAL indecent pictures of her running around naked (nothing but boots on) since she wont wear diapers. I wont post those though.. thanks to the SICK-O's out there. It is just really funny b/c she runs SO FAST and just hangs out naked. I bought her some princess panties and she REALLY wants to wear them, but I told her she can't until she pees in the potty one time first. She has NO clue what it feels like. Am I ready to do this??? I don't think I am... but I don't want to miss the chance if she is ready. Any advice is welcomed since I pretty much screwed it up w/ Judson and traumatized the poor child. I don't want to force it or shame her in anyway. I guess I will just see where she leads me and guide her as well. I just hate poop in the underwear and pee on the floor. Breathe Kiki, BREATHE!! We can do this... all kids (well, most) kids eventually get peepee in the potty!

Has it already been 2 weeks?

Wow! Time flies by when you are having fun... and are too busy to think!
We have been pretty busy lately. I don't mind b/c I need something to do during these snowy months. I usually hate the snow, but this year it is beautiful. I don't mind it at all. A Garage is helpful , but mostly it is that the ugly dirty snow is covered so I doesn't look so gloomy. Also the snow seems to clean the muck that fills our sky, so the skies are bluer than usual.

So here is what we have been up to:
Snow snow and MORE SNOW! Church got canceled b/c it snowed so much last weekend. So we went out and shoveled snow for 2 hours. The kids LOVED it. We don't play in it nearly enough (it is my pet peeve to dress the kids for 30 mins with the snow pants, the gloves, hat, socks, boots, etc and then they play for 5 minutes. But this particular day they played for 2 hours. UNBELIEVABLE! All the neighbors were out and we had a mini snowball fight.. OK, well we mostly were throwing at the men and they couldn't throw at us b/c we had children shields. Muihahahahahaha!! (evil laugh) Fun times! Michael and Judson made a huge round fort in the front yard. It is still standing. Judson was actually outside for over 4 hours that day.

Bitter Sweet

I have at admit that I am more happy than sad (as I am sure most people are) that President Hinckley is with his sweetheart! I can just imagine them; with all the energy of Heaven, just LOVING it there!!! Enjoying being together... and then I am sure it is back to work! Just my imaginations, but it sure is fun to imagine them young again. He will be sorely missed!! And it will take a while for me to get used to conference with out his cute little face!! sniff sniff.... I also have to admit that his passing has stirred me to try to do better. Hearing about his life and all the good that he has accomplished. He is such an example of Love... I want to be like that... even if is in a MUCH smaller degree... just to do the best I can do. OK, before I start crying I will move on...

Here are some funny quotes from Carma last few weeks:

I was laying on the couch and Carma came up “Mommy, can I cuddle you?’ She climbed up and cuddled, and squirmed to get comfortable and then said “Ahhhh Comfy and cozy!”.

Last night Carma was sitting on my lap giving me cuddles and Michael came and sat down on the couch. She moves off my lap and sat right in-between us, looked up at us with her eyebrows lifted and the matter of fact smile and said “I love you sa-much” The expression on her face was THE CUTEST. She looked so content.

Getting Carma dressed is THE WORST part of the day ! I try not to let her see what I am putting on her, but usually she is pretty verbal about her apparel. A few days ago she wanted to wear a sleeveless dress and I told her only if she had something on under it. So I put on a long sleeve shirt under the dress and she cried saying “This looks TERRIBLE” as she was trying to pull it off.

We were doing the dishes together and she said out of the blue "This is IMPOSSIBLE!". Where does she learn this, I dont recall saying that very often, but I guess I do. And for her to say it in the right context is even cuter!

Here are some goofy pictures of Judon, Michael and Carma the past 2 weeks. Judson got this at school, it is a pencil decoration, but he thought it would be much more fun on his nose. I have to add that he was reading to Carma yesterday. I wanted to take a video of it, but if he even knew I thought it was cute he would have stopped immediately. SO I just had to eavesdrop... it was the CUTEST thing in the world!!! and just melted my heart. Here is Carma just being Carma... little Miss Priss winking. Michael just being Michael- most of you never get to see this side of him b/c he reserves it for home use. But he CRACKS me up!! This of me me is of my new hair cut... (a few of you from sparks have requested- I am not conceded). I should take a different one w/ my bangs down, and maybe have someone else take it b/c this one looks goofy. But no one ever takes pictures of me... I make sure of that... Well, I take that back; Dana manages to get quite a few of me when she is here.

Carma talking to Cinderella

Carma LOVES Cinderella! She keeps asking if Cinderella can come over and play. So I had Nonnie call and be Cinderella. Carma talked and talked. This is just a small part of the video. Carma wouldn't shut up and you will notice that she tries to keep her on the phone at the end. Also notice that she is SO excited that her she is wiggling her legs super fast!

I can't wait until her Princess Birthday Party! I have to start planning now.. I DO vow NOT to make a cake though.. I HATE making cakes! Don't I say this every year!

Snow!

I can't believe how much snow we are getting. I hate snow, but I have to admit that it is really pretty! And having a garage makes it not so horrible. I just really try to stay home when it is snowing too.. so what am I complaining about???
Here is Michael shoveling the snow after just ONE night. We need to take advantage of it and go skiing and/or sledding. At the very least we will make a snow man this week.

Here is Carma after eating a fudge pop. I can't believe she can make such a mess of it... but it is one cute mess. Not much else going on around here. Just trying to get better... today is the last day for me to be sick. It is my deadline.. ready or not tomorrow is time to get some stuff done AND to start working out again. Do you hear me body!!

So, as you know I usually do a slide show for my pictures instead of just posting them in here. Reason being is that I can show more pictures and I don't know how to move the picture where I want them in blogger. My question is: do you prefer looking at them like this or in a slide show?

We've been sick

Wahh wahh wahhh We have been sick. I know get your violins our for me. I have something that feels like bronchitis. But I don't KNOW for sure since our insurance changed and now we have to meet a 2,400 deductible before they pay one penny. (Thanks to Michaels company!) The positive outlook is that it looks like I am going to figure out more about natural healthy care. I smell like garlic and ginger right now... you may think YUMMY, but no, it isn't. I have done the Neti pot, humidifier, teas, cayenne pepper, Emergen-c packets and Orovo detox so I am expecting to be better any minute now. Seriously, I DO feel better than yesterday.

So being sick stops me from being my usual skiing, bike riding, camping outdoorsy kind of things that I do... bwhahahaha I just had to put this in b/c yesterday I was talking to my friend and telling her I always WANTED to be that girl who loves all those things, but really I am the girl who LOVES movies! I love them. I watch about 4-6 movies a month. I HATE TV, so instead of watching TV I watch movies. I usually only allow myself one movie a week just sitting on the couch, (since I have been sick I have been released from this rule) but my favorite is watching movies while I work out on my elliptical. Golds gym even has a theater room and I jog on the treadmill while doing my fav thing. Here are some of my favorite movies I have seen this recently:
"Amazing Grace". LOVED IT! So inspiring! "The Ultimate Gift".. a little bit cheesy, but such a good message. "HairSpray" HILARIOUS, "Spiderman 3" violent, but I like the overall message. My favorite movie of 2007 is "Freedom Writers". Michael makes fun of me b/c if it has anything to do with inner city kids succeeding and people overcoming racism I LOVE it!! (and if it has that PLUS dancing he says I love it even more-hahaha) I DO love those movies, but they aren't the kind that I can watch OVER and OVER and OVER like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "Just like Heaven"~ (my NUMBER ONE FAVORITE MOVIE!), or "Beaches" hahaha (that one is for you Pixly).
I saw "We are Marshall" this week.. I have to admit that I was kind of disappointed. It was just OK.. I have waited for MONTHS to see it and expected more to be as good as "Remember the Titans".

We DID rent the TV series "Psyche". OMG, that is THE FUNNIEST show! and nothing bad in them. We watched half the season in one night. Mom and Dad told us about it in Louisiana and we got hooked there. Now I can't wait for season two to come out.

What are some of your favorite movies? I need some good ones, I am running out.

****Added by Kiki after reading comments about my "cheesy movies" comments. ****
Yes, I KNOW that my movie choices are pretty cheesy, but I am VERY sensitive to the following:
Sexual content and half naked people PISS me off. I really don't want to see other people getting it on! Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the guy and the girl getting together and kissing. But COME ON, leave SOMETHING to the imagination. AND lets face it, BELIEVE it or NOT life isn't ALL about SEX as Hollywood would have us believe and there ARE emotions and consequences that come along with it they they forget to mention.... but I could go on and on about this.
Violence: makes me too nervous and it stays with me for hours after.
Scary: we don't even WANT to go there, even the tiny bit of scary will have me awake and checking under the bed and closets for MONTHS. My imagination is way too strong and I already drive Michael crazy by being a scare-dy cat.

Christmas is over

The kids sleeping on my stairs is Diego... Pinky's son.. Mario's brother. It was SO funny b/c he was running around like the Tasmanian Devil minutes before these pictures were taken. His dad put his coat on him and his shoes and he just FELL backwards; TOTALLY asleep. We were cracking up! We took a funny video too.. this kid is MR. Energy. He is so cute!

It was so fun to have Valerie, Norman and kids visit from Iowa! Judson really enjoyed having his cousins here too. They got to spend a night with us (I still owe a grab bag toy for the "first to fall asleep" game.~sorry guys) Garrett and Renton played over here too... Renton is shown sporting Carma's dress up... the other boys were doing it too but I wasn't fast enough and Renton actually posed for it. Mara is SO cute! Carma loved having her here to read to her, and Ranon is actually getting sweeter with age. Ander is a TOTAL goofball, he was cracking us up! Wynn is almost taller than me.. hey watch it wise guys! She is growing up way too fast! I remember her naming all the planets when she could barely talk... OK, so she was 3.. but still a child prodigy.

Ander got baptized this week, (I forgot my camera dang it!) It was pretty sweet. He is a smart kid as well, what can you expect.. they belong to Valerie and Norman! I was pretty amazed at how much he understood about the purpose of this sacred ordinance and it made me realize that I have a lot of work to do this year with Judson. I am so glad they had him get baptized here so we could be a part of that special day.

New Years Eve was fun... I forgot my camera again.. but Norman said he would email me some. We went to Jaren's and played Rock band... THE FUNNEST video game EVER! April made a ton of food! (as usual.. if you ever leave her house hungry it is your own fault!) We ate, played Settlers, ate, watched fireworks, ate, the kids watched a movie, did I mention we ate. I ate WAY too much... now my pants are even tighter... DANG IT!
It was pretty fun and the six hours we spent over there went really fast.